How’s the New Year 2010 treating you so far? For the cast of “Little House on the Prairie The Musical,” the first week back from a post-Christmas break has been both good and bad.
We’re deep in the heart of “Sam Walton Country” in Fayetteville, AR, just a few short miles from Wal-Mart’s world headquarters. LHOTP played this week at the Walton Arts Center. We were treated really, really well by folks at the Center and the crowds that cheered the eight performances.
On the other hand, the weather was not very hospitable early in the run. The “cold snap” that’s talked about in the play hit us right between the eyes, driving the temperatures into the low single digits and well below zero when you factor in the wind. It was so cold that they closed the schools in Fayetteville for a couple of days.
Our play, however, didn’t miss a single performance because of the weather—theater folks come from a hearty stock and apparently, so are the theater goers, who braved the elements.
The first couple of shows in Fayetteville were extra special for granddaughter Taylor Bera. She got to sing and dance the part of little sister, Carrie Ingalls. Her dad Joe made a really quick trip to Fayetteville to be there for her first show on Tuesday then drove back to the airport in the wee hours to catch the only direct flight back to New Jersey.
We knew when we were home on break that Taylor would get to play a main role for at least the opening show in Arkansas, and fortunately she was able to share this news with family and friends who gathered on January 2 at a party welcoming her home. She was really surprised when she walked into the Main Street Playhouse in Parlin, NJ, expecting to perform at an “open mike night” --instead, it was a party for her.
Taylor donned the ‘Carrie-garb’ for the Wednesday show in Fayetteville too.
She performed very well, but that’s not just a doting grandfather’s opinion. She received lots of congratulations from the cast and crew. It was really great seeing her name posted on the performance board and hearing her name announced to the audience before each show.
Here are some pictures from Taylor's Welcome Home party and our time in Fayetteville, AR:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/creativeapps/slideShow/Main.jsp?token=164429041803%3A1789742871
The weather didn’t affect the school for Taylor and her co-performers. Fortunately, school was held this week in the hotel, so they didn’t have to venture outside into the biting winds.
Taylor’s new laptop computer functioned well for her but the wireless internet service only extended for the first three floors. The rest of the hotel was supposed to be hardwired but our first room on the sixth floor was without service of any type. We got moved down a couple of floors where both the wired and wireless versions worked most of the time.
There was no time for a class trip this week but Taylor did get to perform a science experiment testing the effects of vinegar on a shiny penny. After it was removed from the solution, the shiny penny turned a dull blue-green. Interesting—something to do with pennies that no one wants any more expect to pay sales tax with.
Many in the cast say the Walton Arts Center was a friendly place to play. They liked the feel of a smaller 1,250-seat venue---no matter where you sat in the auditorium, patrons had a great view of the entire stage. Believe me; I viewed the show from every possible venue during the week. The cast liked the acoustics.
On Monday, we pack up and head to Omaha, NE—of course, to get there we have to fly first to Dallas-Fort Worth Airport, and change planes. This is not new to us—we flew to Charlotte, NC, to get to Fayetteville last week. It’s great for frequent flyer miles—if only we’d use the same airline all the time.
Oh well---the weather is better, so I should stop complaining.
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